Collaborating with people who try to sabotage you is like trying to celebrate Christmas with the Grinch.

In this case, an honest, professional woman was dealing with a coworker who constantly tried to sabotage her. She just didn’t expect to one day be her superior.

Let’s see what she did.

Former horrid coworker now reports to me

Several years ago I worked with the most spiteful, troublemaking woman (“Mary”).

She and I applied for the same promotion and she got it.

I was OK with not getting the job because it really wasn’t part of my planned career path – I just wanted the extra money.

She was not in my chain of command but she seemed to think her promotion gave her the right to treat me badly.

She would make snide comments about me to my coworkers (who, thankfully, knew what she was all about and would stand up for me). She would try to assign work to me.

Mary made her life harder for seemingly no reason and even put the company at risk.

When I’d refuse, she’d run to our mutual boss and complain until she got her way and I’d have to take on the extra work.

I had suspected for a while that she was telling our boss lies about me, but had no proof so I just kept my mouth shut.

Eventually, I was promoted to another department.

In the days before I went to my new job, it was apparent that someone was sabotaging my work – data was changed on files I was working on, etc.

Things were getting serious.

Of course, I suspected her, but, again, had no proof.

It all came to a head when she announced to the entire office that I was actually the one who was sabotaging the computer system.

Of course, nobody believed her, but it was very upsetting to me. It got so bad that I made arrangements to go to my new job earlier than originally planned.

This needed to change, but she was playing the long game.

For the next several years, Mary and I would have to work together on projects.

I spoke to her as little as possible and CYA was my motto. It was awkward but manageable.

During that time, I received several promotions and ended up as the director of my department. There are about 50 people in my department and I mainly have contact with only the supervisors.

She was now in the position to call the shots.

I guess I’m known as the one to give problem employees to (I either get them to “shape up or ship out”).

Still, I was very surprised when HR approached me about taking on Mary because she was about to be fired in her current job.

My initial reaction was “hell no!”

I really felt I couldn’t be impartial and give her a fair chance. But I pretty much wasn’t given a choice. What’s worse, I couldn’t pawn her off to one of my supervisors.

Because of the work she did, she would have to report to me.

The tables had turned. Soon things came to a boiling point.

After resigning myself to having to take her on, I started dreaming of how I would exact my revenge.

There were so many possibilities; I was almost giddy with anticipation. But the sweetest revenge was on her first day.

I called her into my office to give her my “come to Jesus” message. She came in with the most scared look on her face. I thought she was going to puke.

It was time to make the “villain” admit to everything.

I decided to have pity on her and start out softly. I asked her if she understood how she’d ended up here.

She replied meekly “I guess it’s karma”. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I knew exactly what she meant, but I wanted to hear her say it.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She then proceeded to apologize for everything she’d done to me, including spreading lies and doing the sabotaging herself.

Now things were very clear. But she wasn’t done.

I was about ready to admit defeat in the revenge game, but then I thought of the very best next step.

I told her ever so calmly “You know that you could be fired for that.”

I let that sink in until I saw the beads of sweat on her forehead. Then I said “But I’m not going to do that. Instead, YOU are going to decide your fate.”

“You will not be able to blame me for what happens to you because it will be up to you to succeed or fail.”

She would either shape up or ship out.

It felt so much better than using my power over her to get my revenge.

She’s still working for me, but I don’t think that will last much longer.

Not because she’s going to be fired – she really has improved a great deal – but because being nice to me is so hard for her, I don’t think she can stand it and will find another job – hopefully, at another company!

She handled this beautifully. What a boss.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this.

A reader shares their thoughts.

This commenter shares their opinion.

Someone asks a valid question.

Another reader chimes in.

Someone shares some wisdom.

Exactly.

This is the result of trying to climb to the top by stepping on others.

Her shenanigans backfired.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.